I&B Ministry
News broadcasters push back as MIB’s landing page proposal may create turbulence
MUMBAI: India’s broadcast heavyweights have mounted a firm resistance to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s proposed rule change on landing pages, arguing that the plan is legally shaky, technically confused and commercially stacked against the industry.
News18, NDTV, Times Now and other major networks have told the Ministry that the amendment deserves to be scrapped altogether. Their submissions note that the proposal attempts to revive a measurement method that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had already studied and rejected in 2018 for being unreliable. With the issue currently before the Supreme Court, broadcasters say any fresh intervention now breaches basic principles of administrative fairness.
At the heart of the dispute lies the belief that landing page viewership is somehow suspicious. Broadcasters counter this view, insisting that landing pages act as legitimate promotional real estate, no different from a newspaper jacket or a supermarket’s prime shelf. When a TV set turns on and a viewer decides either to stay or switch away, they argue that this choice represents genuine viewing behaviour, not inflated numbers.
Removing first impressions, they warn, would wipe out real audience actions and twist the ratings picture. TRAI had raised the same concern in 2018, concluding that genuine impressions would be wrongly filtered out.
Industry bodies have added their voice to the chorus. The All India Digital Cable Federation has urged the Ministry to leave current practice intact, while several regional and smaller broadcasters have filed similar objections. The opposition, they say, stretches far beyond a few big brands.
With the sector unified in its stance, broadcasters have urged the Ministry to withdraw the proposal and preserve the current ratings framework. Only then, they argue, can India’s TV market retain a fair contest, clear metrics and a true reflection of what viewers actually choose to watch.
I&B Ministry
Prasar Bharati sets EPG standards for DD Free Dish platform
New specs define 7-day guide, LCN mapping, and device compatibility.
MUMBAI: Your TV guide just got a backstage pass structured, scheduled, and far more in sync. Prasar Bharati has released detailed technical specifications for Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) services on DD Free Dish, laying down a standardised framework for how channels and programme information are organised and delivered. At the core of the update is a defined EPG data structure, covering genre-based categorisation, scheduling formats, and Logical Channel Numbering (LCN). The aim is simple: make navigation less guesswork and more guided experience across the platform’s over 40 million households.
The specifications also introduce a seven-day programme guide window for each channel, alongside clear rules for channel grouping and LCN mapping effectively deciding not just what you watch, but how easily you find it.
On the technical front, the document outlines requirements for Program Specific Information (PSI) and Service Information (SI), including descriptor usage across tables such as PAT, BAT and NIT. It further details service lists and network linkage parameters, giving OEMs and developers a clearer blueprint for integration.
Importantly, the framework is designed to work seamlessly with television sets equipped with in-built satellite tuners, enabling users to access DD Free Dish directly without additional hardware, an incremental but meaningful step towards simplifying access.
The platform will continue to operate on GSAT-15 transponders, using MPEG-4 compression and DVB-S2 transmission standards, ensuring continuity even as the interface evolves.
While largely technical, the move signals a broader push towards standardisation and user-friendly discovery in India’s free-to-air ecosystem because sometimes, the real upgrade isn’t what’s on screen, but how easily you get there.
